Victor Boyhan (Independent)

I welcome the Minister. I wish to be associated with the condolences to the Minister of State, Deputy O’Sullivan, on the loss of his dear sister. May she rest in peace. My thoughts are also with their extended family.

I will start with agriculture. I am a member of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Agriculture and Food and, although it is now a separate committee, I am also on the marine committee. I will focus on agriculture. Farmers and many Senators represent farming communities are fully committed to saving our biodiversity. We are now going to embark on preparations for the next Common Agricultural Policy, CAP. In the 2023-27 CAP, many commitments and promises were achieved in the context of creating and maintaining habitats and the importance of that. I make the case again that we must incentivise our farmers, too. Clearly, under CAP, the European Green Deal and particularly in the EU context of our consciousness of the environment, as well as our own, we have to look at imaginative ways of embracing set-aside in certain circumstances. We had all of this years ago. There are ecosystems and best farm practices that we can and should embrace. That is really important. I am making the strong case that we should support, incentivise and reward farmers when it comes to biodiversity because it is important. It was promised that by 2030, habitat biodiversity assessments would be conducted regularly as part of the national farm survey. That is important and something we need to keep in our minds going forward.

I acknowledge the former Minister of State and current Senator, Malcolm Noonan, in this regard. He very much led in this area. Many of the things he predicted a few years ago have come true and many of the benefits he set in place are beginning to come through. One of the important benefits, and one which I wish to acknowledge today, is how he championed and sought to ensure that every one our 31 local authorities had a biodiversity officer. That is very important. I have a word of caution in this regard, however. On a printout I received today of the 31 local authorities and the names of each of the biodiversity officers, in many cases there is an asterisk after the names. At the end of the list, it states that these positions - the ones with an asterisk beside them - are positions funded entirely by the relevant local authority. There is not too many of them. Currently, many of these biodiversity officers are funded centrally from the Department. We do not know how long that is going to continue. We need the Minister, and I ask the Minister of State to take this back, to do an audit of that. What are the contractual arrangements for each of our 31 local authorities? In some local authorities, they actually have two officers. We want to ensure they remain in these roles. That is really important. They have a key role, and rightly so, in communities that are driving this agenda. We need to ensure they are part of a multiteam in terms of planning, heritage and biodiversity and they are all interconnected. I acknowledge the absolute commitment of the former Minister of State, Senator Noonan, to driving that and his enormous commitment to the Heritage Council.

Virginia Teehan heads up the Heritage Council in Kilkenny. It has done an amazing job. While I had concerns initially when the Minister brought forward proposals to give additional powers and functions to the Heritage Council, I now see the benefit. It is all under one roof and collectively driven. It is not broken up between natural heritage and built heritage. All heritage, be it built, natural or maritime heritage and all of that, is included. Virginia Teehan is doing an amazing job, as is the whole organisation. It is driven. What has really impressed me about the Heritage Council’s work in the area of biodiversity is that it interviews and assists local authorities in recruiting biodiversity officers and heritage officers. It provides a one-stop shop. It knows what it is doing. It is building strong, practical relationships and putting plans in place. It is also cosupporting and cofounding projects in a co-ordinated way rather than some Minister at a desk in some building or headquarters deciding who best can benefit from this funding because it is politically advantageous for them. It is now done on a numeric and assessment basis. That is important. Looking at the functions and responsibilities of a biodiversity officer in a local authority, there are six or seven points. They are mandated to create a local biodiversity forum; to write a local biodiversity plan in conjunction with others; to research surveys and collect data; to provide advice on biodiversity to all local authority staff; to undertake community engagement in raising awareness of biodiversity and driving forward practical projects in partnership with others; to develop strategies, policies and projects relating to wildlife, habitats and biodiversity; and to provide biodiversity expertise to groups such as the heritage forum and the climate action team. They are doing amazing work. It is a good news story. We need to support it. We need to secure the funding model going forward for each of these biodiversity officers. There will come a time when the Department may have to review it or give block funding to the local authorities. These people are working and want their jobs to be secure. They want their work to continue to grow. I acknowledge all the people who have played their role or part in this.